New to the group

Hello,
My name is GreggK, new to the group and I've been looking at a few Econoline vans. I've found a '63 and a '62 that I'm very interested in buying but I notice that there are no reverse lights. What year, if any did the vans come with them? Are there any kits to equip the vans with them or is it something you come up with on your own? What have some of you come up with?
Also, when I've talked to some of these sellers they said the vans had no locks on the doors? I do notice some of the pictures show some kind of key opening but I wondered why they might have told me that. I did look at a '66 Chevy and there were no door lock "plungers" on the inside, so I wondered what the Fords have. My final question is about a windshield washing system. I think I can see nozzles but not sure. Is there a system in place?
Thanks for any advice or guidance anyone might be able to provide.

Welcome to the site.
Chevy stared backup lights  in 66. Not sure about Ford vans??
Also Chey had outside key locks on all the doors(back & side only locked with key from outside.
Early Chevy vans(64-66)Front door has key hole in outside door handle .button

Hope this helps , and you find your Van.
.

Thanks for the help Savage. I'm planning to go see a '66 Chevy later this week. From the pictures of it I can see the door locks on all the doors, like you said and reverse lights in place.
The last '66 I looked at seemed to be missing some knobs/levers for fan/heater/defrost controls. Can you/anyone tell me what or where I should see the proper controls.
Thanks again, Very much appreciated!

Pretty primitive heater system on a Chevy/GMC van,,,,,fan switch on column, defroster/heat air flow direction are levers that operate flapper doors under dash, heater shut off is valve in heater hose in doghouse......

Perfect Donivan65, That's what I was looking for. The owner of the van I looked at didn't know how to work the controls. I saw those levers for the defrost and air flaps but there were no labels. I didnt wnt to mess with them incase I broke something. Thanks again.

Thanks for the warm welcome:D . I've been searching the forum and have found so much information.

Thanks Dix. I'll take any information you would like to pass on. Thankyou!

The Econolines came with door locks, so maybe the seller removed the locks to use on another van. For the first year, the door lock was optional on the driver side. If parked on the street, you would enter the passenger door and slide over. Safer than walking in traffic.

Backup lights were optional on Econolines until 1967 when they became standard. They show up on eBay and swap meets.

Thanks for those links Dix. I will look into them tonight. I'm in the process of purchasing a '62 Econoline. I went and checked it out last week and on a hand shake, will be going back to make payment and drive home! When I was in my early 20's I couldn't find any "Vintage Vans" that I could afford but I did find a Vanagon which sucked me in. I've been messing around with them since, but always wanted an old Ford or Chevy. So it very exciting to finally become an owner. It's ready to drive but I'm already looking at some of the upgrades I hope to do in time. Just gotta get it home first!

My van is on the way! Being transported on Thursday. Pictures and questions to come.

Congrats! Can't wait to see some pics

[url=https://servimg.com/view/20327902/1]

There are the pictures of my van. Feeling a little overwhelmed after a day of thorough inspection. With my Vanagon's, I always know what is what and how I'll fix what needs fixing and where I'll get the parts. Not the case here. Seems I'll be improvising on some of the fixes I have already located. I'm going to start another post to log in the work I'll be doing. This is going to be interesting!

It looks really nice (love the color), the outside looks really straight and clean.

Love those smoothies! Great looking van...if you ever have questions about parts or fixes there are plenty of members who have probably had to deal with some of the same issues and could help point you in the right direction.